OOM: Girl in the War
Feb. 2nd, 2018 11:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sunbaked_bakerShe hadn't thought that already-exhausting day could have gotten any longer, but it did.
There had been the expected blowup when Rae had called the coffeehouse to let them know she couldn't come in for a while. This had never happened before. She couldn't blame them for not really having a good way of dealing well with the news. Softening it with I just burned my hands pretty bad - just an accident - and the doctors said I should limit how much I use them while they heal. It'll only take a week or so... didn't help much, though gods bless Mel and Charlie for keeping Rae's mother out of the loop until the last moment, when everything had already kind of been settled and the fuss had died down somewhat.
Sunshine's apprentice had said they would be up for the challenge of being acting-head-baker for a while, with the kind of bravado that made Rae smile despite herself. Through the phone she heard Kyoko, who had helped Rae in the bakery before when she'd been between apprentices, call out that she'd keep an eye on her apprentice in the meanwhile. Rae knew Kyoko would make sure they weren't getting in over their head. Despite her protests, Mel did come out to her apartment. He came with very nearly a week's worth of groceries in his arms - obtaining food for while she healed was something she hadn't even had a chance to think about yet - and had only stared a bit when he saw how much worse it was than she had described over the phone. He didn't ask for more information than she offered, though she told him the majority of what had happened. But he did hug her a bit more tightly than usual before he left, and longer, as though by sheer force of will he could make her hurt less.
Rae loved her family dearly. Her whole coffeehouse family. She appreciated every one of them, and wished she and this life she had chosen were not such burdens upon them.
She spent the rest of the dwindling afternoon on her balcony, dozing as she soaked in the late sunlight. She took her painkillers dutifully, and gingerly smeared more of the medicinal ointment onto the burns after another four hours had passed. She added kenet where the pain was the worst, but only sparingly, to make the amount she got from the bar last. When the sun disappeared from the horizon and sunset turned into dusk, she contacted Con as well, to let him know the situation. The vampire's voice in her mind held satisfaction in her victory, though he understood it was not complete, and there would be battles yet to fight. But he was not worried. Rae tried not to be.
He came to her at 4am, when her body woke her from her fitful, painful doze because it was time to go make cinnamon rolls, and held her carefully in his arms, helping her rest. Rae doubted she would ever have Con's gift for tranquil inactivity, for doing nothing with grace and composure, but she wished she could learn. She awoke strangely peacefully, well after dawn, to find him having already left.
There had been the expected blowup when Rae had called the coffeehouse to let them know she couldn't come in for a while. This had never happened before. She couldn't blame them for not really having a good way of dealing well with the news. Softening it with I just burned my hands pretty bad - just an accident - and the doctors said I should limit how much I use them while they heal. It'll only take a week or so... didn't help much, though gods bless Mel and Charlie for keeping Rae's mother out of the loop until the last moment, when everything had already kind of been settled and the fuss had died down somewhat.
Sunshine's apprentice had said they would be up for the challenge of being acting-head-baker for a while, with the kind of bravado that made Rae smile despite herself. Through the phone she heard Kyoko, who had helped Rae in the bakery before when she'd been between apprentices, call out that she'd keep an eye on her apprentice in the meanwhile. Rae knew Kyoko would make sure they weren't getting in over their head. Despite her protests, Mel did come out to her apartment. He came with very nearly a week's worth of groceries in his arms - obtaining food for while she healed was something she hadn't even had a chance to think about yet - and had only stared a bit when he saw how much worse it was than she had described over the phone. He didn't ask for more information than she offered, though she told him the majority of what had happened. But he did hug her a bit more tightly than usual before he left, and longer, as though by sheer force of will he could make her hurt less.
Rae loved her family dearly. Her whole coffeehouse family. She appreciated every one of them, and wished she and this life she had chosen were not such burdens upon them.
She spent the rest of the dwindling afternoon on her balcony, dozing as she soaked in the late sunlight. She took her painkillers dutifully, and gingerly smeared more of the medicinal ointment onto the burns after another four hours had passed. She added kenet where the pain was the worst, but only sparingly, to make the amount she got from the bar last. When the sun disappeared from the horizon and sunset turned into dusk, she contacted Con as well, to let him know the situation. The vampire's voice in her mind held satisfaction in her victory, though he understood it was not complete, and there would be battles yet to fight. But he was not worried. Rae tried not to be.
He came to her at 4am, when her body woke her from her fitful, painful doze because it was time to go make cinnamon rolls, and held her carefully in his arms, helping her rest. Rae doubted she would ever have Con's gift for tranquil inactivity, for doing nothing with grace and composure, but she wished she could learn. She awoke strangely peacefully, well after dawn, to find him having already left.
